Michael Jackson vs. Alfred Hitchcock: The magic of the Thriller.

The midnight hour is close at hand.

       In December 1982,  Michael Jackson's music video for Thriller emerged from the Stygian gloom of Union Pacific Avenue and proceeded to shuffle and clap its way across the planet; with continents and cultures of all kinds succumbing to the remorseless 40,000 year old funk.
      This particular viewer, however, was moved to ask: Why is this called " Thriller" when it's clearly about a horror movie?
       
      "It is often forgotten that (dictionaries) are artificial repositories, put together well after the languages they define. The roots of language are irrational and of a magical nature."
                    - Jorge Luis Borges*
     
        All communication always (most basically)  works as: Information -------> Idea. As any information can give any number of ideas, it is clear that communication relies on agreement of idea, or, in other words, agreement of definitions. It should be noted that when people are asked to define their terms, the most common responses are bemusement, anger, and the singing of crickets with the soft whispering of tumbleweed, as the question is ignored.
       Simply put, this is the way communication works. Don't blame me, blame god/evolution/explanation of choice.
      As this is the way communication works, it is also clear that different people will have different ideas about the same information. This is perfectly normal. A danger lies in anybody insisting that their definition is correct. What really needs to happen, for better communication, is to try to get more information to try and understand anyone's particular idea.
       It should be noted here that the basic skill we are born with that enables us to get more information- the ability to ask questions- has always been an enemy of those with power. Which is why traditional education has so little interest in questions.   
       So why was it called Thriller? You might think that unless Mr Jackson does indeed rise from his grave, dancing or not, we would be unable to ask the song-writer. But the song writer was in fact, as people are often surprised to find out, this man-
 
 

The wizard Temperton.

           The writer of Thriller is Rod Temperton, whose place in disco heaven** is assured by the fact that he also wrote Boogie Nights. (The original groove rather than the film.)
           Originally, Thriller was to be called Starlight, but, thankfully, Temperton was asked to come up with another title by Quincy Jones. According to Temperton, he woke up in the morning and the new title came to mind fully formed.***
            So where did this idea come from? Possibly a thirteen year old Rod was influenced by the local cinema showing  Psycho.
                               

Poster for Alfred Hitchcock's thriller. Influence on young Rods?

    The thriller genre that Alfred Hitchcock was so enamoured of has always conjured up (for me, and probably for most people) ideas of espionage and plans of murder. A protaganist who often is flung into a chaotic environment where friend and foe are not easily identifiable. The horror genre, on the other hand is usually defined by the presence of a supernatural foe. My own Hitchcock favourite, Strangers on a Train can be easily labeled a thriller, although it also contains horrific scenes. However, there is no clear supernatural presence.+
     Psycho itself is variously labelled horror or thriller or even horror-thriller, but what excuse does Michael Jackson have for stocking his video with zombies and a werewolf, two of the most famous archetypes of the horror genre?
     Of course, his excuse is: "It gave and continues to give pleasure to millions and nobody cares that it's called thriller."
     I actually agree with this quote from Michael Jackson that I made up. None of this is really important, it's just, to my mind at least, an interesting example of the way that communication works. Moreover, it is entirely possible to live a good and happy life without once giving any thought to the way that communication works. We can also be perfectly fine without knowing how blood circulates in our body, or how our heart pumps it. But, when there is a problem, knowing how the heart or blood circulation works is of such clear importance that it hardly needs mentioning. Ask people how communication works, however, and its importance is far fom apparent.
     And yet, as the entirety of human history has been about better communication, if we are to pay more than lip-service to improving things in the future then an understanding of how comunication works may even be vital.

     The role of definition in communication is fundamental, as any information can always give more than one idea. Thus, there is no correct idea, but rather an agreement on what the idea is in any particular context.
     Understanding this, I am not about to load up on guns and take Muhammad Wassab, Jermaine Jackson and Jermaine Jacksun hostage until the Jackson estate agrees to change the title of Thriller to Horror.

     It is in this agreement of definition, this agreement of idea, that the great power, the great magic, of human communication is revealed.
     If any information can give more thasn one idea then there is always the possibilty of better ideas.      Throughout our history, human beings have looked for better ideas.  Better ideas about God or gods, better ideas about agriculture and medicine; better ideas about music and stories and football.
     Better ideas about music videos and psychological thrillers.

     And I agree that horror is not a better title than thriller.


     But of course there are always other ideas, it's just that we want better ideas don't we?
     Well, if we do, we are going to have to define better aren't we?
     But why talk about stuff, something that requires a little effort, when there's so much great  entertainment available?
     Because communication is the only thing we ever do, and the only argument for not wanting to do it better is that we wish to live as #dogs



     And finally, the information of Michael Jackson, might also just give us the idea of: child molester.
     And that of Alfred Hitchcock might give us: serial blonde abuser.
     But whatever idea you have about these kings of the thriller, they also left us with these ideas; these pieces of magic:

              And that's just the way it works.

                 Although, perhaps less (real) horror and more (real) thrills is maybe something to aim for?

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* Completely failing to provide us with a definition of magic.

** Rod himself, might well prefer the other place-

*** We might consider whether the universe itself  should claim a writing credit. I think the fact that the universe has never claimed a writing credit on Thriller can be explained by the simple fact that the universe is bigger than that. Besides, although Rod temperton enjoys a house in Fiji, the universe already has homes everywhere.

+ We are, of course, free to argue that the character of Bruno is driven by the Devil ++ himself.

++ Who, when not simply enjoying his disco inferno, is handing out rail tickets.+++


+++

"Room for one more inside, Sir..."



 # Which is, of course, a choice. But if it is explained  it to the rest of us, then we can get a leash and muzzle for whomsoever wishes to do so